This invention relates to inkjet printer peripherals, and specifically to a fast output inkjet device.
Known office laser printers and copiers can print at 60-ppm+. However, inkjet printers are limited to single digit speeds, as modem office inkjet printers do not normally print faster than 7-ppm. The speed of inkjet printers is limited by the dry time of the ink. After a page is printed, another page cannot be dropped onto the first printed page until the ink on the first page is sufficiently dry. It is unlikely that workgroup inkjet printers will become an office standard until a breakthrough in printer speed occurs.
Although multiple output trays are provided on some office laser printers, the provisions of such multiple output trays are for reasons other than increasing print speed. Multiple trays may be provided on a laser printer/copier to allow sorting of multiple jobs. No office inkjet printer uses multiple output trays.
Known solutions to the dry-time limitation of inkjet printers include providing a heater to shorten dry time, as are found in the Hewlett-Packard (HP) DeskJet 1200C and 1600C: using a driver to delay printing the second page, which is a default setting for virtually all inkjet printers when operated in xe2x80x9cBest Mode;xe2x80x9d and providing mechanical devices to support subsequently printed pages above the level of previously printed pages for a period of time, allowing the ink to dry on the first printed page. These devices include the xe2x80x9cwingsxe2x80x9d found on the output trays of all HP DeskJets. None of these solutions has led to a breakthrough to double-digit speeds.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,844,633 to Greenberg, granted Jul. 4, 1989, for Active paper drop mechanism for a printer, describes and support mechanism which includes a pair of arms which intercept a page as it is output from the printer, and momentarily supports the page to provide additional dry time for the immediately underlying page.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,980,141 to Donnis, granted Nov. 9, 1999, for Ink jet printer for delaying the stacking of the printed sheets and associated method of operation, describes a delay mechanism which interrupt paper flow when two sequentially printed pages are within a predetermined distance on one another.
An output mechanism for use with an inkjet printer for printing a multi-page document, including plural paper-receiving output trays; a controller for determining the total number of pages, the number of copies of each page to be printed, and the paper-receiving tray which will receive each printed page, wherein each page is provided with sufficient time to dry before a subsequently printed page is stacked on top thereof; and a paper directing mechanism for directing the paper to a specific paper-receiving tray.
It is an object of this invention to increase inkjet output speed.
Another object of the invention is to allow ink on a first printed page to be sufficiently dry before a subsequently printed page is stacked on the first printed page.
A further object of the invention is to provide an output mechanism for use with an inkjet printer which includes multiple output trays and alternating output distribution between the multiple output trays.
This summary and objectives of the invention are provided to enable quick comprehension of the nature of the invention. A more thorough understanding of the invention may be obtained by reference to the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment of the invention in connection with the drawings.